Reazjhana Williams, from Denver, had planned for a natural birth when she arrived at the hospital, but things quickly took a turn.

When doctors couldn’t detect the baby’s heartbeat, things escalated quickly.

Before Reazjhana could fully process what was happening, her daughter was born— but to her shock, the baby had something on her face when she arrived.

Delivered via C-section

Most new mothers have the opportunity to bond with their babies right after birth, often by holding them on their chest. Reazjhana was not among them. After her daughter was delivered via C-section, Reazjhana was forced to hand her baby over to a plastic surgeon.

But let’s start from the beginning.

In early June of 2021, Reazjhana Williams arrived at a Denver hospital, excited to give birth to her long-awaited daughter. She’s still trying to process everything that happened, but she remembers that the doctors couldn’t find the baby’s heartbeat, which led them to prepare for an emergency C-section.

”They gave me a pill to speed up my labor and a few minutes after that I was being rushed into an emergency C-section,” the new mom told KDVR.

What happened next shocked both parents.

Taken to a plastic surgeon

After their daughter Kyanni was born, she had a large, deep laceration across one side of her face. As a new parent, there are a lot of emotions and some worry, and the ugly scar only made things worse.

Kyanni was immediately taken to a plastic surgeon to have the wound stitched up.

”I tried to be understanding about what happened, but on top of the fact her face got cut and a plastic surgeon had to come do it, there’s just a lot of things I’m not understanding with the C-section,” Reazjhana said.

Kyanni’s grandmother said the doctors explained that the baby’s head was positioned very close to the placenta wall during the procedure. The medical team was also reportedly horrified by the damage to the baby’s cheek and rushed her to plastic surgery.

Required 13 stitches

Kyanni Williams’ deep, wide facial laceration required 13 stitches.

“I’ve never heard of anybody having to deal with their baby’s face looking like this after a C-section.”

“It’s upsetting, she’s not comfortable,” Damarqus said of the baby.

Denver Health has issued a statement regarding the incident.

“Denver Health has been in contact with the family directly. While this is a known medical complication in emergency C-sections, our focus is always on providing care in the best interest of the mother and child,” the statement read.

“At Denver Health, the safety and well-being of our patients is our number one priority.”

A GoFundMe page has raised more than $11,000 to assist the family with medical expenses resulting from the incident.